Former Arizona State Coach Takes Over at Western Oregon

Brad Saindon replaces Joe Houck, who resigned last month to become the head coach at the University of Portland.

Brad Saindon, former head coach at Arizona State and Colorado, has been named the new leader of the Western Oregon University volleyball team, athletic director Jon Carey announced on Monday.

MONMOUTH, Ore. - Brad Saindon, former head coach at Arizona State and Colorado, has been named the new leader of the Western Oregon University volleyball team, athletic director Jon Carey announced on Monday.

Saindon becomes the ninth head coach in the history of the program. He replaces Joe Houck, who resigned last month to become the head coach at the University of Portland.

Saindon, who has built or re-built programs at nearly every level of volleyball, was the head coach at Arizona State for the past five seasons.

He has also led programs at the University of Colorado and Regis College and has a collegiate record of 296-211. He has served as the lead assistant for the USA men’s national team, and has been the head coach of the Australian women’s national and Olympic squads.

“We are extremely pleased to have Brad join our coaching staff,” Carey said. “He has considerable and varied volleyball coaching experience including Division II (Regis), Division I and at the international level. He has improved every program that he has been affiliated with.

“He will inherit an experienced group that has tasted success and we anticipate that Brad will build on last year’s improvement and move our program to the top levels of our very difficult conference.”

Saindon’s 2007 Sun Devil squad went 15-16, and the 2006 ASU team finished 16-15. The ’06 squad advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament. The three seasons previous were spent in rebuilding mode on the Tempe campus, where the Sun Devil’s play in the nation’s toughest conference, the Pac-10.

The Colorado native (Wheat Ridge) coached for 11 seasons at the University of Colorado, taking the Buffaloes to two Sweet 16 appearances and six NCAA tournaments. His record at Colorado was 181-112, and he was named the Big Eight Coach of the Year three times.

He had two different stints with the USA volleyball team, and during his tenure with the Australian squad the Aussies climbed from a world ranking of No. 40 to No. 14 after placing ninth at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.

Saindon also has experience coaching at the NCAA Division II level at Regis, where he was 63-28 in two seasons. He has coached at virtually every level of volleyball, including grassroots development clubs, junior high and high schools, elite club level, collegiate, national, international and Olympic levels.

“I am really excited about coming to Western Oregon University,” Saindon said. “For a long time, I have wanted to return to a Division II school. I love the environment at the smaller university. I don’t look at this move as a step backwards or sideways, but for me personally it is a step forward. I am very anxious to get to Oregon and get started.”

A graduate of Arizona State in 1976, Saindon played on the ASU men’s club volleyball squad, and later played on amateur and professional teams. He earned his master’s degree in the scientific basis of sport from the University of Oklahoma in 1984, where he was an assistant coach for four seasons.

Saindon inherits a Wolves volleyball squad that went 16-10 in 2007 and finished second in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. WOU advanced to the NCAA tournament for the first time since moving to the Division II level in 2000. Western lost only one player to graduation from that squad.

“Last year’s WOU team tasted success, and I got the feeling that they are anxious to take the next step,” Saindon said. “It is easier to keep things going than it is to kick things going. I get the feeling that volleyball is very important at Western Oregon, there was a very good vibe with the program right now.”

Saindon, 54-years-old, is in the process of moving from Tempe and will begin work at Western Oregon next week.

Adding comments to these stories has been disabled. View the current sports stories Salem-News Sports